


In Hiding, Found Out

by sixnumbers



Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Avengers (Marvel Movies)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Modern with Magic, BAMF Rhodey, BAMF Sam Wilson, Black Male Character, Canon Character of Color, Gen, POV Character of Color
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-07-23
Updated: 2014-07-23
Packaged: 2018-02-10 04:14:07
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,565
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2010531
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/sixnumbers/pseuds/sixnumbers
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>“I need your help.”</p><p>James furrowed his brow.</p><p>“What with?”</p><p>“I’m like you. And you’re the only one like me I could trust.”</p><p>James opens the door wider so the younger man can slip past him.</p>
            </blockquote>





	In Hiding, Found Out

**Author's Note:**

> So you might be wondering, wtf is this fic? This is one of the ones I intended to write in for Rhodey Appreciation Month. It's a magic and modern AU where most people don't have magic, but a sizeable minority do. Rhodey and Sam are teacher/student in this fic. It's also unfinished. Nor do I think I will finish it. But it was sitting in my 'fanfic' folder and I wanted it to see the proverbial 'light of day'.
> 
> This will be compiled in some of my random AU fics I plan on writing that aren't going to be long runners. I'm creating a series when I get a chance.
> 
> thanks for reading <3

James doesn’t expect visitors. It’s exactly why he bought this house, surrounded by willow trees and marsh. It was a quiet place to be and a place to finally be as separate from the rest of the magical world. It is another too-hot day in the Bayou and he was ready to pack things away for a quiet night _not_ having visitors, but things had apparently changed. _Who the hell found him?_

When he opens the door, he finds the face of a man, face thinner than his fit body would presume, at his doorstep. He’s a bit sweaty, and wiping his forehead with the back of his palm. He’s as dark as James, hair clipped low and sharply.

“I need your help.”

James furrowed his brow.

“What with?”

“I’m like you. And you’re the only one like me I could trust.”

James opens the door wider so the younger man can slip past him. He checks the outside, sees no others, and closes the door quickly. The last thing he needed was more inquisitive visitors. And he’s already had enough of people inquiring about Anthony Stark. He didn’t want to clarify anymore about how he was ‘involved’ with him or Virginia. The tabloids would have a field day.

James turns back to the stranger. He should be more careful, more concerned, but something on his face makes him trustworthy. The stranger’s smile is kind, warm, and he fans out his shirt.

“How did you learn about me?”

“Friend of a friend. It’s apparently difficult to track down wizards, especially the Black ones.” The stranger chuckled. “Louisiana fits a few of them. But I was fascinated by your work.”

“I don’t like to fight nearly as much these days. Trying to piece together a school for poor witches and wizards.”

“It wasn’t related to the war at all. Even though all of us would consider you a hero-”

James sighed and ran a hand over the back of his neck, letting his gaze swing to his feet, and the strange man stopped immediately. His face was apologetic, even without saying a word.

“What’s your name?”

“Sam”, he responded, extending a hand. “Sam Wilson.”

James smiled warmly.

“You already know me. Come in, take a seat.”

_______

“What is it you need help with?”

James had managed to get a glass of water, filled with ice, to Sam as he sat at the kitchen table. His shirt doesn’t cling to him sweatily anymore, face looked less ruddy as he cooled down. It’s only because he has too many fans, used some of Anthony’s ingenuity to power the house. He could have splurged for the AC, but it seemed more effort than it was worth.

Sam sighs deeply.

“I’ve been suppressing my powers for years. I don’t practice as much as I should...I worry I’ve lost them for good.”

“And you need my help to train you.”

“Yeah. I thought of no one else. Money is no object. My-”

“I’m not interested in money.”

Sam nods, almost downtrodden.

“You were my hero when I read the papers. And you disappeared afterward, like you were a ghost.”

“I’m attempting to be,” James said with a warm smirk. “You worked hard to find me here. The house is even under a different name.”

“Yes, Anthony Roman.” Sam chuckled. “Very creative,” he adds sarcastically.

Natasha and Anthony found it funny, he thinks.

“That might keep you off the trail of some mundane groupies but us magical folk saw better.”

Sam takes a long drink of water, only leaving the glass partially filled, still staring up at the other man. It was a unquestioning look.

“That was intentional. I’m not hiding...just wanted to take my time coming back to the world at large. You’ve been in war, haven’t you?”

Sam nodded solemly.

"...how old are you?"

"Thirty-three this year."

James nodded, deciding to sit down.

"What do you know about _our_ war?"

"There was a rift, between realms. You and Stark, Rogers, Romanoff...and you had an ally from a different realm. Thor?"

"Yes. But do you understand why we fought so hard, where we had to take up swords and guns?"

"Could never get that intel."

"The other realm, lead by Loki, had us using our powers too heavily. Wanted to irritate Bruce...Dr. Banner, to transform. What Loki failed to realize was that The Wolf is far more together than he believed. Thor was always our warrior, Rogers fought and protected others, moved civilians away. I did some fighting, too, but Natasha took up the Chitauri's arms. Learned from the first trigger pull, shared the wealth.”

He shook his head. She didn’t even use magic (she had been learning from Fury), but she knew plenty from her non-magic training.

“Reinforcements wanted to burn the entire city, and didn’t listen to anyone suggesting otherwise. Anthony, he turned their bomb into the portal. He could only get there, he was the only one who could fly. You don’t know how sick I was watching it, how I knew Virginia was too. He made it back by...well, I don’t even know. “Skin of his teeth” seems too meaty.”

Sam hangs on the every word of James. His eyes are big, absorbing, and he seems almost childlike.

“Everyone was proud of us...and I didn’t feel like I had deserved the award of hero. Anthony is one in his own right. He was unconcious for a few moments. I would have gone into the Netherworld to draw him back, if that's what it took.”

There was a silence.

“You’re downplaying yourself”, Sam said.

“Oh?”

“You _can_ and did go into the Netherworld to drag people back. That’s your power. You resurrect and when you can, you play defense. You cast whatever you can. You’re as powerful as Stark but he keeps the resurrection under wraps, keeps the grievers at bay hoping you’ll bring back their baby. But the defense...That’s what they taught you in the military, right? I’m ex-Pararescue.”

James took a deep breath and got up.

“Don’t think I came empty handed, Colonel Rhodes. I read about you, sneaked into file cabinets bewitching the little surveillance they had set up in those dusty places. I wouldn’t have trusted anyone else. Please.”

James wasn’t even facing Sam. And Sam...he was begging. He had taken to looking out the window, watching the willow trees sway. He was being overdramatic, he knew, but _resurrection was something no one had known except Stark and a handful of military._ Wilson had dug very deep.

He remembered the first time he had brought a bird back in his hands, brought back Anthony on the battlefield, pulled Coulson back for good after Fury’s attempts at keeping his body alive. He was a healer, a salve, a warrior and a...Colonel and yeah, he worked hard, but it didn’t all snowball until that instant.

“I’ll help you.”

And he swears he hears Sam do an armpump.

____________

“What’s your specialty?”

Sam is fiddling with his hands, nervously. James has taken them to his yard to have more space.

“...I fly.”

“Envious”, James cooed.

“I can’t tell you the last time I did fly.”

“Five years ago. Right?”

“I’m that easy to read?”

“I know a novel when I see one. Lost a friend in battle?”

“Reilly.”

James’ face turns somber. He remembers that file, remembers it ten years ago when he was a solo flyer. Sam was newer, fresher.

“What happened?”

“Bombardment. Fire...everywhere. Everything they could toss at us. And...he got hit. Didn’t sway as fast as I did. He was hurt already, burns across his arms…”

“You couldn’t do anything.”

“I could have. I _could have_. But if I took my power out of flying I’d be just as dead. I tried to swing down to save him but he was _burning_. I could hear him...”

James cups a hand over Sam’s shoulder, looks at his face. Sam’s slipping into a flashback, he hopes he is bringing him back into the now. James gripped a little tighter, and Sam’s eyes go from glazed to normal. He is running hot, and he feels the energy flicker around him, the hum of the wires underground go silent.

“You’re gonna knock out my appliances if you keep that up.”

“I’m sorry...I can’t control it as well. The energy thing just recently appeared.”

“Don’t feel bad. I’m surprised you haven’t taken out a city block with your anger. You don’t cry much, I’m guessing, otherwise you’d take out the _entire_ city.”

Sam chuckled. James felt a little lighter about the joke.

“You gotta channel it better. Deep breaths and focus. Nothing out of the ordinary, but need to add your power to it.”

And Sam does just that. Blue and green and white flickered across his hands, up his arms.

"Amazing. Keep it up."

Sam took a deep breath, and he lifted off the ground. It was only a few inches, Sam’s eyes closed tight, and he inched further up.

“Good, good. How do you feel?”

Sam’s eyes shot open and his glow disappears, and he falls down. James takes the man’s hands and helps him back up.

“I almost had it.”

“Don’t stress about this. It’s one step on a long stairwell. We’ll get there.”

Sam dusted himself off and smiled up at James.

 


End file.
